‘Climategate’ scandal scientists broke the law by hiding data from global warming sceptics

The scientific unit at the heart of the climate change emails scandal broke the law by hiding data from sceptics.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia breached the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to comply with requests for the data.

The decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office comes months after controversial emails from the university’s Climatic Research Unit, a global leader in its field, were released on to the internet.

In one email the head of the unit, Professor Phil Jones, asked a colleague to delete emails relating to a report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In another message, Professor Jones told how he had persuaded the university to ignore Freedom of Information requests from sceptics.